The Public Is Asked To Be Aware Of Scams On Social Media That Use Fake Accounts

Illustration/Photo: Pixabay

JAKARTA - The Cybercreation Steering Committee or ICT Watch Donny BU reminded the public to be aware of fraudulent crimes on social media using false identities ("catfishing") that have emerged recently.

"Catfishing" is a term used for fraudulent acts that use fake online identities to trick victims.

"Fraudsters usually use other people's photos and information to create trustworthy online personals and then lure victims. Further, victims are trapped in various fraudulent actions and lead to criminal acts," Donny said in a written statement, Tuesday, March 8.

The phenomenon of "catfishing" has turned out to be a major risk factor for friends app users. A study stated that 65 percent of a total of 18,000 respondents in 27 countries, including Indonesia, expressed their concerns about friendship applications.

The sad thing is, 15 percent of the total respondents reported that they had experienced fraud.

Of the various modes of fraud, "catfishing" became the number one modus operandi with 51 percent of those who were targeted having been trapped in it.

The freedom of the internet allows anyone to create their own identity, so that anyone can be any character they want online.

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"The internet allows people to do "identity play", in the sense that someone can create their own identity, so that he can become whatever character he wants in cyberspace. Unfortunately, this technology is also used to commit a number of frauds," said Donny.

Indonesian Anti-Defamation Society (Mafindo) activist, Bentang Febrylian, said that there are main characteristics that can be used as a reference to identify "catfishing", namely the perpetrators generally refuse to make video calls, avoid face-to-face meetings, and limit communication only through chat and voice calls.

"If you find such things, you are most likely find the perpetrator of 'catfishing'. The perpetrator behaves like that to protect his identity from being exposed. So, the victim will not know the real face of the perpetrator," said Bentang.

Furthermore, psychologist Dian Wisnuwardhani, looked at the phenomenon of "catfishing" occurs when people are not comfortable with themselves, so the perpetrator cannot show his true personality without disguise.

"From a psychological point of view, this is called 'identity confusion'. So they confuse themselves with themselves. When we use 'facebook' or 'Instagram' and often take photos using filters instead of appearing natural, it shows that something is going on with that person's personality," said Dian.

In fact, the rise of online crime through "catfishing" has attracted the attention of the Ministry of Communication and Information of the Republic of Indonesia (Kemenkominfo RI) to educate the public through the National Movement for Digitalization Literacy (GNLD).

The Ministry of Communication and Information of the Republic of Indonesia is collaborating with the National Movement for Digital Literacy Cybercreation as a partner to provide education in digital literacy to the public, including crimes using social media.